Let's welcome the Class of 2014 to the Houston Astros organization! Like last year's thread, this is a thread dedicated to news about the 2014 draft class. If they intend to sign, if they intend to go to college or stay there, it'll be located here. Also, news on undrafted free agent signings will go here as well. Bold - signed/will sign/reportedly agreed to terms Italics - will not sign/has indicated that he will not sign Round 1: Brady Aiken, LHP, Cathedral Catholic High School, San Diego (committed to UCLA); has reportedly agreed to a deal with a $6,500,000 bonus, which would be $1,422,100 under the slot recommendation. Competitive Balance Round A: Derek Fisher, OF, Virginia (JR) Round 2: A.J. Reed, 1B, Kentucky (JR) ; signed for $1,350,000 (slot recommendation) Round 3: J.D. Davis, 3B, Cal State Fullerton (JR); signed for $748,600 (slot), will report to Tri-City Round 4: Daniel Mengden, RHP, Texas A&M (JR) Round 5: Jacob Nix, RHP, Los Alamitos High School, Los Alamitos, California (committed to UCLA) Round 6: Brock Dykxhoorn, RHP, Central Arizona College (JUCO SOPH); story, assignment unknown and pending work visa Round 7: Derick Velazquez, RHP, Fresno State (JR); expecting to go to Tri-City after he signs; signed for $207,800 (slot recommendation) Round 8: Bobby Boyd, CF, West Virginia (JR); expected to report to Tri-City, signed for $140,000 ($22,800 under slot) Round 9: Bryan Radziewski, LHP, Miami (redshirt JR; listed as a senior); signed for $125,000 ($27,000 under slot), to Tri-City Round 10: Jay Gause, RHP, Faulkner (JR); story, signed for $65,000 ($77,100 under slot) Round 11: Dean Deetz, RHP, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (JUCO SOPH; technically a redshirt freshman) Round 12: Ryan Bottger, LF, University of Texas-Arlington (JR); on preliminary Tri-City roster Round 13: Jamie Ritchie, C, Belmont (JR); on preliminary Tri-City roster Round 14: Nick Tanielu, 2B, Washington State (JR); on preliminary Tri-City roster Round 15: Connor Goedert, 3B, Neosho County CC (Kansas) (JUCO SOPH) Round 16: Ramon Laureano, LF, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (JUCO SOPH) Round 17: Ben Smith, LHP, Coastal Carolina (JR) Round 18: Antonio Nuñez, SS, Western Oklahoma State College (JUCO SOPH) Round 19: Ruben Castro, C, Puerto Rico Baseball Academy & High School (commitment info unknown) Round 20: Trent Woodward, C, Fresno State (SR); maybe, I guess... Round 21: Mac Marshall, LHP, Parkview High School, Lilburn, Georgia (committed to LSU) Round 22: Bryan Muniz, 1B, Southeastern (Florida) (JR); not to be confused with J.D. Martinez's alma mater, Nova Southeastern University Round 23: Ryan Thompson, RHP, Campbell (SR) Round 24: Vince Wheeland, RHP, Oklahoma State (SR) Round 25: Zach Davis, LHP, Central Missouri (SR) Round 26: Mott Hyde, 2B, Georgia Tech (SR) Round 27: Brandon McNitt, RHP, Stony Brook (SR) Round 28: Aaron Greenwood, RHP, Ole Miss (SR) Round 29: Richard Gonzalez, C, Alabama State (JR) Round 30: Sean McMullen, OF, LSU (SR); to Greeneville Round 31: Dexture McCall, 1B, Hillsborough Community College (Florida) (JUCO SOPH) Round 32: Robert Kahana, RHP, Kansas (JR) Round 33: Edwin Medina, OF, University of St. Thomas (Miami) (JR) Round 34: Joshua James, RHP, Western Oklahoma State College (JUCO SOPH) Round 35: Keegan Yuhl, RHP, Concordia University (Irvine, California) (SR) Round 36: Justin Ferrell, RHP, Connors State College (Oklahoma) (JUCO SOPH); He probably has, judging by his Twitter Round 37: Eric Peterson, RHP, North Carolina State (JR) Round 38: Michael Foster, 2B, Northeastern (JR) Round 39: Brad Antchak, SS, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (JUCO FR) Round 40: Alex Hernandez, 2B, Miami (SR) Undrafted Free Agents Aaron Vaughn, RHP, Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) Breakdown 4 high school 9 junior college (8 sophs, 1 freshman) 28 college (11 seniors [Radziewski and Woodward are redshirt juniors], 17 juniors) 20 pitchers, 21 position players Oldest: Aaron Greenwood (born August 18, 1991) Youngest: Brady Aiken (born August 16, 1996) Handedness by pitcher: 15 right-handed pitchers, 5 left-handed Handedness by hitter: 5 left-handed hitters, 2 switch-hitters (Ryan Bottger and Trent Woodward), 14 right-handed hitters High School 2 LHP (Brady Aiken and Mac Marshall) 1 RHP (Jacob Nix) 1 C (Ruben Castro) Junior College 4 RHP (Dykxhoorn, Deetz, James, and Ferrell) 2 SS (Antonio Nuñez and Brad Antchak) 1 LF (Ramon Laureano) 1 3B (Connor Goedert) 1 1B (Dexture McCall) College 10 RHP (Mengden, Velazquez, Gause, Thompson, Wheeland, McNitt, Greenwood, Kahana, Yuhl, Peterson) 4 2B (Tanielu, Hyde, Foster, and Hernandez) 3 OF (Fisher, McMullen, and Medina) 3 C (Ritchie, Woodward, and Gonzalez) 3 LHP (Radziewski and the Smiths) 2 1B (A.J. Reed and Bryan Muniz) 1 3B (J.D. Davis) 1 LF (Ryan Bottger) 1 CF (Bobby Boyd) The First 11, with slot values 1. Brady Aiken ($7,922,100) Comp A: Derek Fisher ($1,534,100) 2. A.J. Reed ($1,350,000) 3. J.D. Davis ($748,600) 4. Daniel Mengden ($494,800) 5. Jacob Nix ($370,500) 6. Brock Dykxhoorn ($277,400) 7. Derick Velazquez ($207,800) 8. Bobby Boyd ($162,800) 9. Bryan Radziewski ($152,000) 10. Jay Gause ($142,100) My guess, as wild as it can be, is that Mengden (due to his injury), Boyd, Radziewski, and Gause will be the under-slot signings. Nix will obviously command a significant amount given his commitment to UCLA and his lower-than-he-expected draft position. We know the bonus that Aiken's agreed to. I admit that I paid much less attention to the amateur ranks this year, so I have next to no knowledge of these players, and I'm still pretty uninformed on Aiken myself. College "analysis" The Astros loaded up on some left-handed power in Fisher and Reed. Fisher was hampered by injury but could force his way into the outfield mix. Reed is just a thumper. He's a decent athlete, but 1B is where he'll ultimately end up. Derick Velazquez could possibly emerge as an in-house closer option down the road. Bobby Boyd seems to be the obligatory grinder pick in the first 11. Plus speed and good contact. The only thing that I'm somewhat certain of is that Jay Gause is a true wild card. Who knows what he'll end up being. I wonder who got the most stars on the board this year. My guess would have to be Radziewski. Just consider all the obstacles that he's overcome in his career, and he's overcome them, on his way to an excellent career at The U. High School "analysis" Well, there's only 4 of them. You have Aiken, who's going to have some really lofty expectations as the #1 pick, obviously. Nix looks like he could be a solid #2/#3 down the road, although he'll need a little work. Marshall could enter the fold depending on how much money the Astros have left in their coffers. Signing him would be a coup, considering how he's been saying that he's dead-set on attending LSU. Junior College "analysis" Well, the Astros loved them some Oklahoma JUCO players, didn't they? Deetz could turn out to be a huge steal if he refines his command and control. He's got some serious heat. And he wasn't too shabby on the gridiron either. Uh, that's all I got. Check back periodically and feel free to add news.
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Don't know whether he's agreed to a deal, and I don't know if he's even begun negotiations with the Astros, but 36th-rounder Justin Ferrell looks like he's leaning towards signing, judging by his Twitter account.
Between 1-1 saving & 5% overage amount, Astros only have about $2M to spread around to the guys who would require overslot amounts.
Considering the number of HS players drafted, I think 2 million should be plenty for all the high picks until maybe Marshall.
Yes, but I was hoping they could find a way to offer Marshall close to $2M, but that probably won't happen given the $6.5M bonus to Aiken instead of $6M.
Will depend on Nix in my opinion. If he goes close to slot and Astros get some of the college guys under slot, they may offer him close to 2 million before offering any of the other non-slot guys more than 100K.
Not that it adds significantly to the total amount available to pay the HS draftees overslot, but I'm pretty sure there was a reason why Dykxhoorn, Boyd and Gause (1) were all drafted way earlier than their "rankings" by most prognosticators and (2) all agreed to terms quickly (even before Mac Marshall was drafted, I think). I'm guessing that each signed for below slot and that all that excess will be combined with the ~$1.9M or so saved on Aiken, plus the 5% overage, to make compelling offers to Nix, Deetz and/or Marshall. While I'm not holding my breath on Marshall (but would be ecstatic if we could end up with a top-75 draft prospect in Round 21), I'd assume that the Astros are very confident they can sign Nix and Deetz. It's not inconceivable that they could sign all three.
I'm guessing Nix got $1MM to sign ($630,000 over slot) after reading that is what he demanded. That means we have around $1.4MM to play with before considering any possible under slot deals with the 6-10 round guys. I think Marshall is long shot but there definitely is a chance there.
I read somewhere Nix was asking for "well over seven-figures" fwiw. Deetz probably gets mid-six-figures, but 100k of that doesn't count towards the total slot amount. If Nix comes in closer to 1 million than 1.5 or 2, they might be able make a low-7 figure offer to Marshall, although I doubt that gets it done. If Marshall only wanted ~1 million he probably goes in rounds 3-5. The LSU board mentioned Marshall wanted 2 million to sign and, if true, the Astros won't have the money unless there are unexpected savings somewhere else.
Derek Fisher really might have the 70 speed that Mike Elias talked about. Dude just hauled down the line to beat out an infield grounder to SS. If that power develops then he will become a premium prospect.
Here is a list of the draftees potentially demanding more than slot: 5-136: Jacob Nix MLB.com ranked him #162 in their Top 200 draft prospects list Actual Slot: $370,500 Slot #162: $288,300 11-316: Dean Deetz MLB.com ranked him #140 in their Top 200 draft prospects list missed the entire 2013 season after high school due to Tommy John surgery Actual Slot: $100,000 Slot #140: $356,400 17-496: Ben Smith MLB.com ranked #175 in MLB.com's Top 200 draft prospects #351 in Baseball America's Top 500 had Tommy John surgery in April 2014 Actual Slot: $100,000 Slot #175: $254,300 Slot #351: $100,000 21-616: Mac Marshall MLB.com ranked #66 in MLB.com's Top 200 draft prospects Actual Slot: $100,000 Slot #66: $860,000 $1,003,200 is the slot bonus for the #56 pick (mid second round). Giving Jacob Nix a million dollar bonus might be an overpay for the Astros. $2,008,100 is the slot bonus for the #21 pick. Giving Mac Marshall a two million dollar bonus would be sheer lunacity.
McTaggart got a quote from Elias “Mac Marshall has a very strong commitment to LSU,” he said. “It was somebody that we saw on the board that late and drafted him on the off chance that we would be able to sign him. We’re certainly going to make an attempt to do everything within our power and within our financial capabilities. I don’t think it’s going to be a real easy sign for us.”
Slot value are just arbitrary numbers set by mlb. They are not set to reflect the actual market value of the pick. If the astros believe Marshall for instance has a 5 million dollar market value than it would make sense to do a 2 million dollar deal if they could.
Ben Smith -- "They had him rated as a sixth-round talent," scouting director Mike Elias said. "He's a lefty with a real good arm. He's going to be shut down rehabbing for another year or so, but we thought it was a really good value pick. We're going to oversee his rehab, get him down at our facility [in Kissimmee, Fla.] and our doctors and medical staff are some of the best. It will be a good rehab environment for him." Dean Deetz -- The Astros took another pitcher who's had Tommy John surgery in the past -- Oklahoma A&M right-hander Dean Deetz -- with the first pick of the 11th round. He's healthy now and came to the pre-Draft workout in Houston a week ago and was clocked as high as 98 mph. "He really impressed Nolan Ryan during the workout, and Jim Stevenson, the scout who drafted him, has compared him to a kind of Trevor Rosenthal kind of arm," Elias said. "Just power, upper 90s guy. He thinks he's got a chance to be a 100-mph guy, and his slider is a plus weapon." Jake Nix -- "The kid is a really tantalizing high school right-hander," Elias said. "He's huge. Our scouts compare him physically to Mark Prior. He's got a really good arm, and we see a lot of potential in him -- especially with our pitching coach and the way they like to teach. We feel he would be a good fit for our system. "We knew going into the Draft he was going to be an expensive sign. Being we took him in the fifth round, we wouldn't have taken him that early if we weren't confident in the fact we were going to sign him. I am optimistic about that one."
